Tag: Death

She just broke down into tears. It was just moments after her hand slipped and dropped the vase of roses. It wasn’t the spilled water on the floor, the broken stems or the cracked vase that got to her. It was the fact that they had been his roses from the funeral. She had once more done something to let him down. She would never be the perfect child now and her heart was tired from years of trying without success. She lost herself in tears of regret and disappointment. She sobbed thinking he died not knowing she loved him.

I was tired. My days had been long and my nights way too short. Driving down the road I was fighting fatigue brought on by the hypnotic view of the white lines on the road. This was a trip I was dreading. I had heard from a cousin that my grandma was in very poor health. This may be my last time to see her and I was determined to make this trip even though I was sleep deprived.

I turned the radio up and began to whistle along with the song that was on. Well, I say whistle, but the truth is I was only making noise – I’m not very good at whistling. But the music was helping me to stay awake.

My thoughts turned to the reason for this trip, my grandma. She had been such a big part of my youth spending about half of my summer vacation with her and grandpa every year. Grandpa had passed six years earlier and Grandma had gone down-hill ever since. My family was actually surprised she had lasted so long after his death. They had been together since their mid-teens and pretty much inseparable. They worked together to build their own house from the basement up. They owned their own business; he was the worker and she the bookkeeper. There were not many hours that they were apart.

I passed a sign that told me it was only a mile to the next rest area. I had to stop and get some caffeine to keep me awake. I pulled into the parking space as my phone rang. Putting the car into park I answered the call. It was my cousin and my grandma had just passed away. I guess she couldn’t wait any longer. The trip would now be for a funeral instead of a visit. I was hurting that I didn’t get to see her, but glad she was finally at peace. As I walked to the rest area the tears began to form.